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Friday, August 28, 2009

So I was checking our Analytics report today for our blog (this shows me how many visitors have come to the site, where they are coming from, how long they stay - basically stops short of giving me your name and address) and saw that an awful lot of people were visiting from the blog jonalysis.wordpress.com. I had never heard of this site before and thought "Oh, it must be one of Bryan's friends who has added us to his blogroll."

I visited the site to find the subhead read "The World is Different Through the Eyes of a Fetishist" and realize that the site is dedicated to men in leather pants and a post about Bryan's Rock and Roll Weekend is leading things off!

Perhaps Bryan does not have a particular desire to wear leather pants. Perhapsthe leather pants were just a part of a clever scheme for Bryan to have a nightout without his wife Dana and their infant Dylan. You see, Bryan’s outfit was one of the reasons why Dana was not going to the concert withhim. Perhaps the title of this post should have been “Wear leather pants, getrid of wife”.

Hmmmm. This person has a good point. Perhaps Bryan knew that I did not want to be around him in his leathers and therefore wouldn't go to the concert with him? Perhaps he came up with an extravagant excuse to ditch Dylan and I for the weekend so he could get a full night of sleep in a hotel room instead of sharing the nighttime duties (Dylan was not sleeping through the night at that time). This has given me a lot to think about.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Ok, now that Bryan has his late 20's quarter-life crisis out of his system (aka: Rock and Roll Weekend), we have lots to smile about.

First, Dylan has started to smile back at us more frequently and it is SO CUTE! I, of course, have my camera out and try to capture as many of those smiles as possible. There will be a Dylan smile montage at the end of this post.

Second, my sister Robyn came to visit for a few days and meet Dylan for the first time. She has some friends who have been completely stressed out parents, which leads to stressed out, fussy kids, so being around a baby for an extended period of time wasn't at the top of her list. We gave Dylan some pep talks before she arrived to be on his best behavior - "Son, if you want cousins some day you better behave while Aunty Robyn is here." We ended up having a fabulous time. Dylan was excellent - he did not poop in her lap or spit up on her one time (he left that for me), and she grew quite attached to her little nephew by the end of the weekend. Dare I say she even uttered "Let me know when Dylan is up tomorrow morning. I need some more Dylan time before I leave." Mission accomplished.

Third, and probably the biggest reason to smile, Dylan has started sleeping through the night! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! We've gone about a week now where he's slept from 10:30/11:00pm to anywhere between 5:30/7:00am. What a difference sleep makes!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

I learned on Thursday night that Whitesnake cancelled their tour due to David Coverdale losing his voice, so Saturday night was looking bleak for us to go (see previous post on my thoughts of the other two bands.) We only had one night to make it a good rock and roll weekend. Our one show did not disappoint.

I ran a running mental diary of Friday night's show. Here’s what transpired:

Road trip to Tampa

I get out of work around lunchtime. I am not about lying to my manager, giving a fake excuse for leaving early. I cut a deal with her that I had to post a picture of me wearing leather pants if she lets me out early. (Don’t worry, it’s coming.)

My neighbor, Lane, his daughter, Stephanie, and I all pack into his truck around 1:30pm. On the way to Tampa, Lane pops in Cheap Trick’s Greatest Hits. First of all, I had no idea this was possible. If you only have two albums in circulation, can you really come out with a Greatest Hits album? Maybe they should rename it, Cheap Trick’s These Don’t Suck as Bad.After listening to I Want You to Want Me, I decide there is no way we are watching them. I will make sure of it.

We make it through that CD and I request the Def Leppard/Poison prep CD that I had given them a couple of weeks ago. I made them a CD with all of the songs that they will play during this tour, so they could be prepared for the songs that we’d be hearing. This is possible as we are not dealing with Dave Mathews Band; Poison and Def Leppard stick with their set lists.I hear Steph singing along to all of the songs in the back seat. I am really encouraged by that. Lane is in the front seat talking about the members of Def Leppard by their first name. “Rick was 16 when Pyromania came out in 1983, so he must be only 42 now.” I thought I was the only one who talked about them band by their first name. I am now really excited for the show.

Pre-Show

We check in the La Quinta Inn around 5:00pm. We chill out in the room for a while. I am in no rush to get out to the show. I know that Cheap Trick starts at 7:00pm, so I keep telling Lane to take his time and have another drink. (This would come back to haunt us later.)

We get to the concert around 8pm and tailgate in the parking lot for a few minutes. We figure we could tailgate until we hear the music when Poison starts. We never do hear the music. On our way in, we buy our tickets from a scalper for $20 (face value $30.) I love a good deal no matter what city we are in.

Poison

We arrive in the lawn just as Poison is starting to sing, I Want Action. There is plenty of action. We jump into the concert head first. It immediately starts to rain. My shirt is off by the end of the song.

My leather pants have become one with my body. We could be looking at 1-2 weeks before they may come off. I contemplate Deutsche Bank’s leather pants policy. Could they pass as dress pants? How would HR address this?

Poison sounds great. I notice that the show is not very loud. I remember that when we were living in St. Petersburg five years ago, there was a big lawsuit by the residents of Tampa against the Amphitheater. Sounds to me like the people won that battle. (I later confirmed this with someone from Tampa during the Def Leppard show. I thanked him with a man hug. )(Sidebar: Somebody told Lane to “knuckle me” while he was standing in line for beer. This was a new one. Still confused? I’ll use it in a sentence, “You drove all the way to Tampa from Jacksonville for this show. That’s so cool. Knuckle me.” (show your fist and prepare for bro pound) I think I will start using it.)

Cece Deville is playing the guitar out of his mind tonight. His guitar solos actually sound like the recorded versions. This is much different from his cocaine days, which sound more like a person trying to play Guitar Hero for the first time. I am very happy that he is clean.

The people around us are not having much fun. I am not sure if they simply don’t know the Poison songs, or if they are just wet. I dawns on me that we are not in Detroit Rock City. An 80’s concert in Detroit is like a holiday. I am hoping for better things from these people during Def Leppard.

There is a frat boy dressed as Rob Dyrdek dressed as Bobby Light from MTV’s Rob and Big show. That’s not a typo. He dressed as somebody trying to dress like somebody. Not very original. I am not impressed, nor are any of the ladies around him.

Poison wraps up their set. Overall, they were OK. The more I think about it, I have seen them more times than the previously mentioned five times. They do not change their sets, so it has become a little stagnant. Expecting more from Def Leppard.

Between Sets

The time in between sets goes by remarkably fast. We people watch and talk about what the people sitting around us were doing earlier that day. Were they in school, working on cars, seeing patients, writing blog posts at their investment bank job? If I were a betting man, I would put my money on working on cars. That’s my final answer.

Def Leppard

It stops raining when Def Leppard hits the stage. They hit us with four classics right off the bat. During this time, I make my traditional call to Pip during the end of Rocket and the beginning of Animal. It ended up lasting over 5 minutes and consisted of me singing the songs at the top of my lungs. I am sure he liked that in his voicemail inbox. I believe that he may have caught the best part of the show.

The people around us have come to life. They are singing all of the words to the classic Def Leppard songs, not just the refrains like a fair weather fan. We are feeding off of each other. I am loving the lawn.

I wince when they played Nine Lives. I did not wear leather pants to hear one of my favorite rock bands play a country song. This was the theme song for the Redwings Stanley Cup win last year, so I try to stay focused on those good memories.

I take my restroom break during Love Bites. I know it’s a popular song, but I don’t like it and I know the men’s room line will be short. Another reason to check the set list beforehand is to plan bathroom breaks. This can be done with a little will power and a large bladder.Lane goes to the bathroom around the same time as me. We don’t see him until after the show.

The worst part of the night happens when they play, Rock On. “Hey kids, rock and roll, rock on. Hey shout, summer time blues, jump up and down in my blue suede shoes” You get the point. Isn’t there a Baywatch montage out there on this song? I sit down and pout the entire song, literally. I send a message to Pip, “h8 life. Playing Rock On now.” These antics were very well received from the people sitting around us who felt the same way.

Def Leppard picks it back up, cranking out some of their best stuff. Phil and Vivian play the guitar solo, Switch 625; which is now probably better known as the music for the Bryan Foltice basketball video. I may or may not have played air guitar through that. There are no photos that can confirm it.

They finish with Pour Some Sugar On Me, Photograph and Let’s Get Rocked. “I’ve got a question for you, Tampa…Do you wanna get rocked?” We go nuts. I am high fiving and hugging everyone around us. I am now hoarse.

Joe Elliot caps off the show with his traditional, ‘don’t forget us, Tampa, and we won’t forget you!” I am still waiting for him to say the city wrong. He is now 8 for 8. Yup, it's actually 8 Def Leppard concerts and counting now.

Post-Concert

After the show, after everyone stumbles out, Steph and I find Lane clear on the other side of the theater. He was talking on his phone to Stephanie, but she had hung up about 3-5 minutes earlier. I still don’t know how he got lost. We were in the second row of the lawn and about 10 yards from the main steps. I don’t get it.

On the way back to the hotel, I scarf down an inordinate amount of Wendy’s before going into a food coma (ala Dylan) back at La Quinta. “Good night, friends. Don’t forget us and we won’t forget you.”

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Rock and roll weekend is right around the corner. I have been looking forward to it for most of the summer. I have also been building up "love equity" all summer to be able to leave Dana at home with Dylan by herself for a day and a half. Dana realizes now that those offers for back tickles and unsolicited loads of laundry did not come without a price.

Here is the itinerary for this weekend.

Friday

1pm- Leave for Tampa

5pm- Arrive in Tampa

8pm- Cheap Trick, Poison, and Def Leppard concert

This is not a typo, it’s actually the concert lineup. And yes, I am only 28 years old, not 42, like the concert lineup would suggest. This will be the first time seeing Cheap Trick. Not looking forward to this set, really. If we get caught in traffic or are tailgating out in the parking lot, I will not be disappointed. I have a feeling that my neighbor, Lane, will have us there in time. He has mentioned his excitement to see Cheap Trick more than once.

I am hesitant to mention this in a public forum, but this will be my 5th time seeing Poison and my 6th time seeing Def Leppard. Boy, that looks really ridiculous in writing. Both shows are always a good time, though.

Saturday

10am- We will spend the night in Tampa and travel back up to Saint Augustine.

2 pm Saturday afternoon will be a good time to regain some of the aforementioned "love equity" back. The PGA Championship will also be on, so hopefully I can multi-task. It won’t last for long because we will be back out the door for another concert.

6 pm St. Augustine- Pop Evil, Whitesnake, and Judas Priest concert

I don’t know anything about Pop Evil, except that they are from Grand Rapids. I think I saw them once in college at The Intersection (the old location for you Grand Rapids natives) when they were a Rage Against the Machine cover band. I really should remember this; I didn’t party during my college years.

Whitesnake is the real reason why we are going. I have only seen them once about 7 years ago, and have wanted to see them again ever since.

Judas Priest is a concert that I feel I just need to see once. I haven’t seen them yet live, so why not this weekend? I just read that they are going to play all songs from their British Steel album in celebration of it’s 30th Anniversary. I guess that’s cool. I don’t really care. Maybe I’ll have a better attitude about him/them after I see the show.

Not to get too far ahead of myself, but Stryper is coming to Jacksonville on my birthday in October. I am as giddy as a 40 year lady at a Whitesnake concert. I will bring you update/highlights next week.

Note from Dana: Here is a photo of what Bryan plans to wear to the concerts. Yes, that is a cut-off Def Leppard shirt. Yes, those are leather pants (which Bryan bought on E-bay just for this occasion). And, yes, those are Converse All-Star shoes. This outfit is one of the reasons why I am not going to the concerts with him. There is not enough "love equity" that can atone for those pants. I also think I should mention that it is August and we live in Florida, which means that it is in the mid-90s and extremely humid every day. Both concerts are at outdoor amphitheaters, which means those leather pants are going to get awfully tight, sweaty and stinky by the end of the weekend. Bryan better pray it doesn't rain or those puppies aren't coming off.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

I did this weekend, so I updated my college basketball highlight video. All of my crazy dunks are still hidden in the archives, but this is what I have so far. This one is only 3 minutes. Just play the video below to view:

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Two weekends before the official rock and roll weekend, the worship team at our church came out with their 2nd CD in as many years called, Make It Loud. They had a CD release service Saturday night. You better believe that we were there, though I resisted wearing my black leather pants. If Dana's Mom putting in ear plugs were any indication, they did Make It Loud. It was awesome.